Dust Bowl Case Study

The National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) was established in 1933 in response to a catastrophic event in the Southern Great Plains region know as the “Dust Bowl” or “Dirty Thirties”. In 1869, the railroad made its way to the Great Plains and became home to the many early settlers who took advantage of the “free soil” or land tracts offered by the government via the Homestead Act; a bill enacted in hopes to curb slave labor and increase the number of individual farmers who owned and operated their own farms.
The settlers of this area met with many challenges. The semiarid Great Plains offer lush farm land during wet years but it also alternates between wet years and years of drought. The cold winters initially presented the settlers with challenges. However, the settler’s response to the cold winters ensured their demise when the years of drought presented a new challenge.
During the harsh winters of the Great Plains, the fields were left unplanted when winds were most prevalent. Additionally, deep plowing methods prior to the winter months disturbed the top layer of soil making it an easy victim of erosive winter winds. The prairie grasslands now converted to cropland were among these barren fields. The prairie grasslands once protected the
Eventually, Bennett was able to change opinion of public funds on private land and utilized every avenue he could to continue his vision without additional funding. However, on March 21, 1935 a dust storm arriving in Washington gave the needed push to form a permanent department in the USDA. A little over a month later, The Soil Erosion Service became the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and was positioned as a Department of the USDA. Although some felt the SCS should still remain as a part of the Department of Interior, this idea did not gain enough support and was